Sunday, July 13, 2008

Bush Is Proud To Pollute, And McCain Clears His Throat For An Encore

The Bush administration has decided not
to take any new steps to regulate greenhouse gas emissions before the
president leaves office, despite pressure from the Supreme Court and
broad accord among senior federal officials that new regulation is
appropriate now.

The Environmental Protection Agency plans to announce today that it
will seek months of further public comment on the threat posed by global
warming to human health and welfare — a matter that federal climate
experts and international scientists have repeatedly said should be
urgently addressed.

The American leader, who has been
condemned throughout his presidency for failing to tackle climate
change, ended a private meeting with the words: "Goodbye from the world’s biggest polluter."

He then punched the air while grinning widely, as the rest of those
present including Gordon Brown and Nicolas Sarkozy looked on in shock.

Bush has insisted on doing nothing to deal with global climate change
throughout his administration, and he is in fact quite proud of that
non-accomplishment. After all, it’s the apotheosis of conservative
drown-the-government-baby-in-the-bathtub ideology; this is what happens
when your policy is being determined by Rush Limbaugh and Dick Cheney.

Republican John McCain, reaching out to
both independents and green-minded social conservatives, argues that
global warming is undeniable and the country must take steps to bring it
under control while adhering to free-market principles.

In remarks prepared for delivery Monday at a Portland, Ore., wind
turbine manufacturer, the presidential contender says expanded nuclear
power must be considered to reduce carbon-fuel emissions. He also sets a
goal that by 2050, the country will reduce carbon emissions to a level
60 percent below that emitted in 1990.

Right. As Joseph Romm at Salon observes,
McCain’s energy/climate solution is one sure to warm the cockles of
even Limbaugh’s dessicated simulacrum of a right-wing heart: build more nuclear plants!

The only technological solution to
global warming that McCain consistently advocates is nuclear power. In
his signature environmental legislation, the 2007 Climate Stewardship
and Innovation Act, written with Joe Lieberman, McCain wants to devote a
remarkable $3.7 billion in federal subsidies to nuclear power plants.
According to an analysis
by U.S. PIRG, a federation of public interest groups, the money would
go for "engineering and design costs, loans and loan guarantees for
building three new plants, and direct financial awards for new
projects."

Yet when Grist asked McCain, "What’s your position on subsidies for green technologies like wind and solar?" he said:

"I’m not one who believes that we need
to subsidize things. The wind industry is doing fine, the solar industry
is doing fine. In the ’70s, we gave too many subsidies and too much
help, and we had substandard products sold to the American people, which
then made them disenchanted with solar for a long time."

Incredible. Nuclear power, a mature technology that provides 20
percent of U.S. electricity, must be heavily subsidized — even after
more than $66 billion in federal subsidies since World War II (five
times what was spent on renewable and eight times what was spent on
efficiency, according to the Congressional Research Service).
But subsidize solar photovoltaics, a rapidly evolving technology that
comprises 0.1 percent of U.S. electricity? No, we can’t help them.

And will building more nukes solve the problem? Er, well, no …

Let’s say that McCain’s policy focuses
on building nuclear plants, not efficiency, and somehow we build 100 new
nuclear power plants, plus replacements for existing plants, by 2050.
Those nuclear power plants would still deliver under 10 percent of the
total energy used by the country. What are the chances of building 200
nuclear power plants over the next four decades in this country? Not
bloody high. How about building five times that number worldwide, as
would be needed for nuclear to comprise even 10 percent of the global
GHG solution. Not gonna happen. We will no doubt build some new nuclear
plants — as will the world — but it is no silver bullet, and cannot hope
to make the same contribution that energy efficiency can at one-quarter
the price and with no long-term waste or proliferation concerns.

As Adam Siegel noted at the time, McCain’s policies are "100% recycled Bush".
And we’ve just seen, once again, what that means. It’s the Republican
approach to governance: Fuck the public, as often and regularly as
possible. And enjoy yourself while doing it.

Sara Robinson has worked as an editor or columnist for several national magazines, on beats as varied as sports, travel, and the Olympics; and has contributed to over 80 computer games for EA, Lucasfilm, Disney, and many other companies. A native of California's High Sierra, she spent 20 years in Silicon Valley before moving to Vancouver, BC in 2004. She currently is pursuing an MS in Futures Studies at the University of Houston. You can reach her at srobinson@enginesofmischief.com.